BIRTHDAY TIME

Whilst we were back home and staying with my family it was my birthday. It was actually a pretty significant one, I turned 29. I was pretty excited about it for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I got to spend it with all my family and secondly because its actually the last one I can get excited about. Turning 30 will not be fun, especially after all the grief I've given to Andrew!

Anyway, my birthday was a pretty chilled out affair with pancakes and presents in the morning whilst we all chilled out at home. It was lovely to have a relaxed morning and just enjoy the company of family. There aren't many photos that are suitable to be put on a blog but here's one or two. 

There was a very obvious bear theme running through my birthday cards and presents. I loved it! Those slippers are the most comfortable ones ever. Elisha happened to like the ears of them and would occasionally play with them, which obviously makes me love them even more!

Lunchtime we took a stroll to Mum and Dad's "local" for lunch. It was really nice. We took up a fair amount of space but it was lovely just chilling out and eating. The food was delicious and we ate so much it hurt! We didn't manage to get the greatest photo of us all (Andrew's skills are going downhill!) but I had to share the one we did get because my brother-in-law's pose his hilarious! 

We did get one amazing photo of myself with my sister and Mum. It's such a beautiful photo and its been such a long time since we took one of the three of us. I love it!

The afternoon contained lots of naps from those of us who were full and play time for the others with Elisha. We played in the garden, did some water play and even attempted painting! It wasn't the most successful attempt at getting things on paper but it was funny. 

The evening consisted of food, games and fun! The girls thrashed the boys at Cranium and we introduced everyone to Irish snap probably to their detriment as its a painful game, especially when played with my brother! Finally we devoured this amazing white chocolate cake complete with polar bear that Andrew had spent most of the day preparing. It was pretty delicious. 

So there we go, my 29th birthday and the last one I'll ever look forward to again!
H

MACINTOSH MONDAY

So last Thursday 18th June Mr Macintosh turned 3! As is customary we get him a few little presents, usually consisting of some toys and treats. We posted this picture on Instagram which caused people to comment on how still and well behaved he looked waiting for his presents.

Whilst he is waiting patiently there he didn't always wait so well...

        

He spent quite a bit of time sniffing them and getting excited over the very gross animal smells he could detect from inside! I love the tongue out photo, shame its a bit blurry!

Mac is a master at opening presents. He can shred wrapping paper at quite a speed so he had fun opening all his presents. You see him demonstrating it by opening his frisbee, which he spends a lot of time wanting to crunch through! 

His favourite toy though is clearly his pheasant. He loves the noise it makes and the fact its small enough for him to toss around and play with. Its the toy he keeps going back to again and again.

Happy birthday Mr Macintosh! 
H

MR MACINTOSH TURNS 2!

Today, June 18th 2014, is Macintosh's 2nd birthday. He has officially moved from puppyhood into adulthood, or so the theory goes! Admittedly he is only just a dog but in fact last year when he turned that all important 1 we were out of the country sunning ourselves on a beach in Majorca with the Keble clan. So we decided to make more of a deal out of it this year. Now before you all freak out we didn't decorate the house or buy him a birthday card or anything weird. We just forced him to wear a birthday hat...

And then gave him lots of presents which he really didn't know what to do with. Usually he shreds paper to get through it but this year (perhaps a sign of his maturity) he let us do all the work for him! 

He has enjoyed the morning so far by playing with his toys and sniffing away in the backgarden at all the American smells out there. There'll be a nice long walk in the hot sunny desert and then he's got a real treat at lunchtime as he's off to make some new friends. This evening he'll have a special wet food dinner to celebrate. All in all a great day for a dog. Or in reality, no different to pretty much any other because he has no idea what's going on. This is us purely for us. See!

H

Andrew wanted to clarify. This is in fact the best day ever for Macintosh because pretty much every day is the best day if it involves eating, walking and playing. "This is the best day ever!" 

THE FAMOUS WOODRUFF BIRTHDAY OUTING

Yes, as is tradition, every Woodruff birthday must be celebrated by law with a Grand Birthday outing. These have varied from outings such as The Science Museum in London when I was small to seeing Les Miserables with Hannah for my 25th. So this weekend we started the day early to say hi to the families, opening a couple of presents before heading off to the hills for a large trek at the bottom of Sequoia National Park to climb up Sunday Peak Mountain (8300ft)

"The UN Environmental Programme's definition of "mountainous environment" includes any of the following:^[11]

• Elevation of at least 2,500 m (8,200 ft);
• Elevation of at least 1,500 m (4,900 ft), with a slope greater than 2 degrees;
• Elevation of at least 1,000 m (3,300 ft), with a slope greater than 5 degrees;
• Elevation of at least 300 m (980 ft), with a 300 m (980 ft) elevation range within 7 km (4.3 mi)."

The start of the walk was from a unmarked car-park 6 miles along a dirt track in the forest, it made for a quite an adventure and a test of my off road skills. The rabbit always seems to find the crazy roads!

After measuring 8 miles on the trip counter we gave up looking for the car-park and decided to just walk along the dirt track only to discover the car-park was round next corner only 200 metres up the road. So we managed to find the trail and set off up the mountain. After successfully climbing the mountain we headed to Greenhorn Grill in a nearby village situated in the forest for a late lunch. I had pork belly burger which was incredible and Hannah had a tasty pulled beef roll, Yum! We then drove home watching the temperatures climb from the warm 71F to the boiling 107F in our valley so we jumped in the pool to cool off.

Here are a few pictures of the day. Thank you for all the birthday wishes, it was a great day even though Hannah kept reminding me I'm 30 next!!